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Cream the Rabbit
is a fictional character in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games. She is an anthropomorphic peach-colored rabbit with a naïve, shy, and well-mannered personality. Unlike most playable characters in the series, she primarily attacks enemies with her closest companion, a Chao creature named , rather than with her own hands. She can, however, fly by flapping her ears. Cream debuted in the 2002 game Sonic Advance 2, where she teams up with her friends Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles to defeat antagonist Doctor Eggman. Shortly afterward, she appeared in Sonic Heroes and Sonic Battle, and has since lived on in numerous other Sonic games, the Sonic the Hedgehog comics, and the Sonic X anime. She has received mixed opinions from critics, generally criticizing her voice and name but praising her abilities. Design and characteristics Cream is an anthropomorphic, peach-colored rabbit. At 6 years of age, she is one of the series' youngest characters, and as such has a naïve and simple-minded personality, especially since her mother Vanilla the Rabbit raised her "like a princess". She is very attentive to manners; she once curtsied for series antagonist Doctor Eggman before attacking him.Sonic Heroes (GameCube) instruction manual, p. 11. She is constantly curious, determined when necessary, and friendly. Cream wears a dress and has one large visible eyelash on each eye. As a rabbit, she has long ears, which she uses to fly. She is strong enough while flying to lift up other characters. Cream loves the Chao creatures, and is a friend to them all. Her closest companion is a young Chao named Cheese, whom she often uses to attack enemies, and she takes him everywhere she goes. Their names are a pun on the term "cream cheese". Appearances In video games Cream debuted in the 2002 Game Boy Advance platform game Sonic Advance 2, where she teams up with her friends Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles to defeat Eggman, who is planning to build an empire.Sonic Advance 2 (Game Boy Advance) instruction manual, p. 2. Eggman returned with this same goal in the 2003 sequel Sonic Advance 3, where Cream again helps her friends stop him.Sonic Advance 3 (Game Boy Advance) instruction manual, p. 4. In Sonic Heroes, Cream teams up with Amy and her new friend Big the Cat as the "flight" character in their trio.Sonic Heroes (GameCube) instruction manual, pp. 20–21. Cream, Amy, and Big look for Big's frog friend Froggy and for Chocola Chao, Cheese's brother. They travel through several stages and eventually reach the Egg Fleet, another of Eggman's aircraft. They find a mecha piloted by a clone of Eggman; when they conquer it, the clone dissolves into a puddle of liquid, out of which Chocola and Froggy rise. Cream, Amy, and Big go on to help the other playable characters defeat the game's true antagonist, Metal Sonic, who it turns out locked Eggman away in his own ship. Similarly, Cream is one of many playable characters in the fighting game Sonic Battle. In the story, she befriends a mysterious robot named Emerl. He absorbs personality traits of all the other playable characters, including Cream's kindness, and she also actively teaches him about emotions. Conversely, he sometimes teaches her about combat. At one point, Eggman kidnaps both of them, attempting to use Cream as a hostage to lure Sonic, but they escape when Eggman inadvertently tells Emerl about an air duct. They conquer the robot guarding the duct, but Sonic shows up to rescue them anyway. In Sonic Rush, co-protagonist Blaze the Cat finds Cream and Cheese spying on her in a bush, and Cream invites Blaze to her house. Blaze, looking for her Sol Emeralds, is impatient, so Cream suggests she talk to Sonic. Cream serves as Blaze's guide around the island for the remainder of the game. At one point she flies Blaze to safety from Knuckles, who thinks she has stolen Chaos Emeralds, and then to find the final Sol Emerald. While initially cold toward her, Blaze saves Cream's life at the end of the game. In Shadow the Hedgehog, Amy appears at a castle level to ask Shadow to help her retrieve Cream, who has not returned. In similar fashion, the Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors has Orbot and Cubot attempt to capture Cheese, as they are rounding up Wisps and mistake him for one. As one mission, Sonic must complete tasks for them, after which Cream thanks him. Cream is one of many recruitable characters in the role-playing game Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood; she joins the party after they help her find Cheese, who is lost. Similarly, she joins Amy and Vector the Crocodile for a tournament organized by Eggman in the racing game Sonic Free Riders; they variously battle three other teams over the course of the game. She gives Sonic a mission to search for Chao in Sonic Generations. With little impact on the series' canon, Cream has appeared in other Sonic titles, such as in Sonic Riders after beating the game, and as a referee alongside Toad in the Mario crossover sports game Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Cream's likeness appears on a collectible trophy and sticker in the fighting crossover Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In Sonic X Cream is a major character in the 2003–2006 anime series Sonic X. In attacking one of Eggman's machines, Sonic causes the "Chaos Control" technique and thus sends him, Cream, Tails, and other characters from their world to Earth. On Earth, they befriend a human boy named Chris Thorndyke. Shortly, Cream and Cheese are kidnapped by scientists who are studying them, so Sonic infiltrates the base and rescues her. Chris tries to keep his new friends hidden, but Cream accidentally gets them discovered. Cream often stays at home, having tea parties with Cheese, picking flowers, and watching children's shows on television, though she sometimes accompanies other characters on trips, such as to the beach and to fight Eggman for Chaos Emeralds. Like the other animal characters, Cream becomes a celebrity on Earth and adjusts to such a life over seasons one and two. At one point, Cheese gets lost down a river and the gang finds him in a lake with other Chao; Cream is overjoyed that he has found friends. Later, Cream meets a robot named Emerl, who befriends the gang, particularly her, for a few episodes. However, an Emerald causes him to malfunction and he begins destroying the city. The characters resolve to destroy him, and none of them can until Cream and Cheese step in; the two are in grief after destroying their old friend. The series moves to outer space for season three, when the animal characters return to their world. Early on, she and Amy befriend a plant-like creature named Cosmo the Seedrian, and the three are frequently together. She adventures with the gang, looking for the scattered Chaos Emeralds and defeating plant-based robots called the Metarex. At the series' climax, Cosmo fuses with the planet and forces Tails to destroy her to save the galaxy from the last of the Metarex; Cream and Amy, as well as Tails, sob in despair as the other characters look on solemnly. However, Cream and Amy later bring Tails some snacks to cheer him up. Eggman's robot assistant Bokkun has a long-standing crush on Cream, which he vigorously tries to keep secret, and this is finally revealed in the last episode. In the comics Cream is also a recurring character in Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series, though she did not debut until 2010. The comics reveal that Cream lived with Vanilla in a large mansion with a resident Chao colony; she took a special liking to one Chao, whom she gave a bowtie and the name Cheese. Suddenly, Eggman's assistant Snively invades in a giant robot with the intention of destroying their house and harvesting the Chao's energy. He successfully destroys the house, and Cream and Vanilla fearfully try to protect the Chao, but Amy shows up and she and Cream demolish the robot. Amy then becomes Cream's close friend. Cream and Vanilla are later shown to live in the city of New Mobotropolis along with most of the series' cast. At one point, Amy gives Cream and Vanilla a tour around the headquarters of the Freedom Fighters, a heroic team of which Amy, Sonic, and Tails are among the members. NICOLE, Amy's computer assistant, interrupts Amy to tell her of a strange energy signal in a forest. Amy apologizes and leaves to investigate, and Cream enthusiastically comes too. There, they meet Blaze for the first time and help her look for the Sol Emerald she has lost. In various scuffles, the Emerald changes hands a few times among four parties: Cream, Amy, and Blaze; E-123 Omega, Shadow, and Rouge; Nack the Weasel; and the Babylon Rogues. Blaze defends Cream and Amy with her flames while they recapture it. Blaze successfully obtains the Emerald, says goodbye to Amy and Cream, and returns to her world. During the invasion of New Mobotropolis by Eggman's robot Titan Metal Sonic, Cream is fearful but runs to protect the unconscious Bunnie Rabbot from falling wreckage. She also recovers a doll version of Tails, which later turns out to be a robotic spy for Eggman. Reception As a character, Cream has received mostly negative opinions from the video game press. Thomas East of Official Nintendo Magazine ranked her as the fifth worst Sonic character, criticizing various aspects of her like her high-pitched voice, repetitious speech in Sonic Heroes, "ridiculous smile", and single eyelash on each eye. Christian Nutt of GameSpy singled her out as one of the negative features of ''Sonic Advance 2, calling her "corny" and "dopey-looking". GamesRadar writer Jim Sterling ranked her as his second worst, stating that she "represents perhaps everything that's wrong with Sonic the Hedgehog characters", particularly finding her name to be random. Similarly, Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer exclaimed "oh God" at her and Cheese's names. David Houghton of GamesRadar ranked her name as one of the 25 worst among all video game characters, seeing a double entendre in the word "cream". In contrast, Xbox World s review of Heroes stated that "we love Cream" and called her "the best new Sonic character since Tails." However, critics have been more positive on Cream's gameplay styles and incorporation into her games. Frank Provo of GameSpot praised Sonic Advance 2 developer Sonic Team's use of different character abilities; he found Cream's to make the game quite easy and suspected she had been added for players having trouble. Similarly, Bramwell praised her limited ability to attack from a distance, stating that it is "bloody useful" but would not trivialize the game's difficulty. He also said she "deserves the most attention" of any of the game's characters. Reviewer Star Dingo from GamePro felt Sonic Advance 2 borrowed too much from its predecessor and positively singled out Cream as one of only a few exceptions. References External links *Cream's profile at the Sonic Wiki Category:Animal characters in video games Category:Animal superheroes Category:Anthropomorphic animal characters Category:Anthropomorphic characters in video games Category:Child characters in video games Category:Female characters in video games Category:Fictional hares and rabbits Category:Sega protagonists Category:Sonic the Hedgehog characters Category:Video game characters in anime and manga Category:Video game characters in comics Category:Video game characters introduced in 2002 Category:Video game characters who can move at superhuman speeds